syfy

UPDATE: Craig Engler of Syfy took to Twitter and dispelled the rumors.

"To answer some questions I've been getting," he tweeted, "at this time we have no plans to pick up The Event."

Previously: 'The Event' lives on!? Maybe, according to reports.

The canceled NBC series may have found a second life, and new home on NBC's sister network, Syfy.

Deadline is reporting creator Nick Wauters and executive producer Steve Stark are in talks with Syfy to bring the alien drama to the network as a miniseries. Given that NBC and Syfy are all under the NBC Universal umbrella, the deal could take shape rather quickly.

However, the players involved have to deal with going from a broadcast series budget to that of a cable miniseries. Financial constraints could prevent this event from ever taking place.

What's going on in the sleepy Maine town of Haven? Quite a lot of nutty stuff, judging by this exclusive peek the second season of Syfy's 'Haven,' which returns July 15.

Later today, I'll post a long list of summer premiere dates you should know about, so consider this an appetizer of sorts. Syfy, AMC, USA, TNT, FX and other networks have a lot of scripted fare coming at us, and though I haven't seen new episodes of 'Haven,' I'll be sure to check it out when Syfy sends advance DVDs.

Come on, I have to -- Jason Priestley will guest star (and even direct) in the second season of the spooky drama.

Oprah Winfrey is flexing her muscles in an odd way. The exiting queen of daytime talk shows has gotten an NBA game rescheduled. Why? Because she's filming one of her final shows at the United Center, the arena where the Chicago Bulls were supposed to play the Miami Heat.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the game was supposed to take place on Tuesday, but because of Winfrey's shoot it has been postponed until Sunday.

"We just got the e-mail saying we were supposed to start next Tuesday, but Oprah has it then," Charles Barkley said on ESPN Radio. "So they said, well let's do it Monday. Oprah is having one of her last shows, so she's got the United Center locked up.

"They're going to set up Monday and tape her show Tuesday. So they just sent out an e-mail and said prepare to go to Chicago and start Game 1 Sunday afternoon," he said. "They're going to move it up three days, for Oprah."

The game is the first of NBA's Eastern Conference Finals.

Winfrey reportedly wants to give Maria Shriver her own show. According to RadarOnline.com, Shriver is said to have been approached by Winfrey earlier this year, but now that Shriver has separated from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Winfrey is pursuing Shriver harder.

In other TV News ...

• Brian Williams will host a new primetime news magazine on NBC. Reports indicate exiting 'Today' anchor Meredith Vieria will also contribute to the new series. [Deadline]

• Syfy is prepping a spinoff of 'Warehouse 13.' The new show will feature the H.G. Wells character. [THR]

The Gate stopped spinning and Destiny went dark in the captivating 'Stargate Universe' season finale.

'Gauntlet' was a strong, densely plotted, emotional hour. It failed to wrap up all of the show's many hanging threads, but I don't think anyone expected 'SGU' to answer every single mindboggling question it ever brought up here, especially since it's well-known that the actors and creators learned about the show's cancellation after filming had wrapped.

But its no accident that 'Gauntlet' had an appropriate sense of finality to it. 'SGU' co-creator Brad Wright told me in a recent interview that the episode was designed to work as a season finale as well as a series finale of sorts. As the show's ratings started to dip following the move to Tuesdays last October, Wright and crew figured that they should really make this season ender count.

Instead of devoting the episode to addressing the show's more complex puzzles, like the search for the "God signal" that was said to be Destiny's true purpose, the finale focused on the characters and how they've grown and learned to work together as a family unit.

This week's episode of 'Stargate Universe' played like a love letter to the show's fans. Seeing these characters grow old together felt especially poignant in light of the show's cancellation and the recent news that the story will not continue with a TV movie or miniseries.

'Epilogue' was epic, ambitious and moving -- exactly the kind of dramatic and clever sci-fi storytelling that viewers will remember for years to come. And it was funny too! Really, really funny.

It might be tempting for some to call this a filler episode, since the big, epic developments all seemed to concern that other Destiny crew – the one that traveled back in time some 2,000 years and founded a new society on a faraway planet. But their story served to inform and celebrate the characters we've come to know and love.

This week's episode of 'Stargate Universe' offered a gripping and mind-bending sci-fi tale that thrilled and depressed me all at once.

I was thrilled to see the show -- and the franchise -- return to its science-fiction roots with epic space battles, plenty of Gate usage and a plot that hinged on time travel. This episode even offered our heroes a rare peek at a dramatic and perplexing "What if?" scenario.

It was shocking and exciting to learn that alternate versions of Destiny's crewmembers had traveled back in time some 2,000 years and founded an entire civilization. But I was depressed two seconds after the episode ended when I remembered that 'SGU,' despite its recent creative winning streak, would be ending soon.

With AMC's 4 for 5 track record in launching original series in recent years, it makes sense that the network is now trying its hand at reality TV.

AMC announced today that it is developing two new reality shows, 'Inside the DHS' and 'The Pitch,' to launch in late 2011 and early 2012. Ahem -- since this is AMC, they're "docu-stories." Okay then.

The first, 'Inside the DHS,' is a behind-the-scenes look at the Department of Homeland Security that's scheduled to premiere later this year. The second, 'The Pitch,' follows real-life Mad Men working at an ad agency. That will debut early next year.

In other TV news ...

• Syfy announced its summer premiere dates. New series 'Alphas' will debut Mon., July 11 at 10PM, directly after the season 4.5 premiere of 'Eureka.' 'Legend Quest' premieres Wed., July 13 at 10PM ET after the season 3 premiere of 'Ghost Hunters,' while 'Haunted Collector' will be paired with 'Hollywood Treasure' starting Wed., June 1. [THR]

Rodney McKay was out of sight, but this week's episode of 'Stargate Universe' still inspired memories of the sunnier 'Stargate Atlantis.' A big, scary monster attacked our heroes during a scout trip and took two people captive, leading the team to embark on a dangerous rescue mission on an alien planet.

I make the 'Atlantis' comparison here because the plot of 'The Hunt,' at first blush anyway, felt like the same kind of well-worn sci-fi story that 'Atlantis' rehashed several times during its five season run: Alien creature attacks, important person is taken, others risk their lives to rescue them. But the comparisons pretty much end there. Despite some monster attack scenes and some so-so creature feature CGI, 'The Hunt' was less about reveling in sci-fi/action-adventure tropes and more about exploring Ronald Greer's troubled soul.

This week's episode of 'Stargate Universe' saw the welcome return of two 'Stargate' franchise vets and the unfortunate "quarantine" of two lovely new characters. 'Seizure' was all over the map emotionally, offering fun winks and nods to die-hard fans, a tense espionage plot, and a tragic B story.

Let's get to the fun stuff first ... How 'bout a big hand for David Hewlett and the triumphant return of Dr. Rodney McKay! Considering the stark contrast in tone between 'Stargate Atlantis' and 'SGU,' McKay's presence here could have easily felt forced and awkward. Instead, it felt solid and satisfying.

Hewlett, episode scribe Remi Aubuchon, and director Helen Shaver managed to create a version of McKay who looked and acted like he belonged on 'SGU' without sacrificing the things we love about the character (like his endless arrogance, below par social skills and genuine brilliance). Even the few bars of the 'Atlantis' theme that accompanied his entrance felt just right.

Smart, geeky, passionate and verbose -- not only could that description suit 'Stargate Atlantis''s science wiz Rodney McKay, it also fits the actor who played him, nerd-for-hire David Hewlett.

Two years after viewers waved goodbye to McKay and Hewlett in the 'Atlantis' series finale, the fan-friendly genre actor is resurrecting his most famous role tonight with a guest spot on Syfy's 'Stargate Universe' (Mon., April 4, 10PM ET).

We got a chance to chat with Hewlett about bringing McKay back to 'Stargate,' a franchise that's in danger of disappearing from the TV landscape after the recent cancellation of 'SGU.'

Hewlett, who blogs about his work and life for Syfy's Blastr site, offered his thoughts about the future of 'Stargate' and what it was like playing McKay on 'SGU,' a show he said exists in "a different world when compared to the other 'Stargate's." The actor also briefed us on the status of his in-the-works pet TV project, 'Starcrossed,' which he described as 'Galaxy Quest' meets '30 Rock.'

Over the last week, I've been talking about the concept of channel drift, when a channel strays away from its original reason for being.

In a way, almost every cable channel has drifted in format. HBO only showed uncut theatrical movies at one time; now they're more known for original series than they are for the uncut movies. One of the by-products of channel drift is that you can identify shows that make you scratch your head as to why they're on a particular network.

These could be shows that have held on for dear life as the channel it was on changed formats, or it could be a show that a channel wanted to test out in order to expand its audience. In a few cases, corporate synergy made for strange bedfellows, allowing channels to rerun shows from corporate cousins that don't seem to fit.

In all of these cases, their presence on their particular channels make a person scratch their heads. But in a lot of cases, they're not going anywhere.

This morning, Vulture and Movieline dug up a trailer for last year's Syfy original movie 'Dinoshark.' Yeah, we know it aired more than a year ago, but the joy one feels while watching the trailer transcends the news cycle.

There's precious little dialogue in this thing, but there is a shot of Eric Balfour jumping from a moving Jet Ski to throw a grenade in the dinoshark's face.

For the discerning cinephiles like myself who saw 'Piranha 3D' (in theaters), you'll notice that the plot sounds a tad familiar to last summer's hit (among my friends): Prehistoric beast gets unleashed upon partying beach-goers, massacres them in horrifyingly hilarious ways. But really, does that ever get old?